About

Keep The Whites Wild is a non-profit organization based in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

Mission

To preserve and protect the diverse biology, natural aesthetic, and intrinsic value of New England’s White Mountain region.

Current Campaign

Protect Mount Washington is a call to action campaign to protect Mount Washington’s unique alpine tundra zone from harmful development. The current focus in on opposing and halting a high elevation lodge proposed by the Mount Washington Cog Railway. Visit the website (www.ProtectMountWashington.org) for more details and to get involved.

Founding Members

Our founding members...Chris Magness, Anne Skidmore, Paul McCoy, David Govatski, and Michael Wejchert are a group of concerned outdoor enthusiasts. We're climbing guides, writers, naturalists, and photographers from Coos and Carroll Counties. The platform on which we created Keep the Whites Wild is volunteer based, mobile, conservation purposed, actionable, and accountable. We welcome questions and volunteerism. Join our current campaign!

Chris Magness

After graduating from college, Chris followed the Great Divide Route south on his mountain bike...pulling a trailer border to border. Major Appalachian Trail section hikes followed, then a move to New Hampshire. Chris has continued to travel the United States in search of lesser visited places, scaling rock walls throughout the West and South. He has established dozens of new rock routes in New Hampshire, New England and the South. Chris has worked professionally as a mountain guide since 2008. He has learned that some areas, like the White Mountains, are so incredibly unique and fragile that preservation and conservation are an obligation: part of sharing the intrinsic value of these places with others is consideration of future generations.

Anne Skidmore Russell

Anne Skidmore Russell is a photographer and climber based out of Madison, New Hampshire. After spending the last 15 years exploring and documenting the beauty of the White Mountains, she is passionate about protecting remaining undeveloped land in the mountains. You may just bump into Anne and her rescue pup, Bailey, exploring the White Mountains together.

David Govatski

David Govatski is a naturalist and historian from Jefferson, New Hampshire. He is a former AMC Hutman. He was an early "Red Liner" who hiked all of the trails in the AMC White Mountain Guide. David retired after working for 33 years for the US Forest Service in a variety of positions around the country. David also served in the US Army and reached the rank of Master Sergeant. He is an avid hiker, backcountry skier and canoeist. He has worked recently as a naturalist in Alaska, Canada and Iceland...in addition to New England. He spent several summers working on trail crews and continues to volunteer and maintain hiking and ski trails in New Hampshire and Vermont. He has a strong interest in the alpine environment.

Paul McCoy

Originally from upstate New York, Paul completed a degree in Adventure Recreation from Green Mountain College in Vermont in 2001. While obtaining his degree, he had the opportunity to climb in Northern Spain, New Zealand, and Australia. He has also visited many backcountry areas throughout the United States and gained perspective on just how special and unique the Whites Mountains are, choosing to make them his home when he moved to North Conway, New Hampshire in 2002. Paul connected with the International Mountain Climbing School in 2008, where he’s an active rock, ice, and ski mountaineering guide.

Michael Wejchert

Michael is a climbing guide and a writer who lives in Jackson, New Hampshire. He has completed ascents all over the world, from Alaska to Newfoundland to Peru. But, he still relishes climbing in the Presidential Range, and loves taking people up climbs he first did many years ago. His writing has appeared in Appalachia, Ascent, Alpinist, Gripped, and Rock & Ice.

Join the email list for updates and calls to action:

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name

Last Name

Email us if you would like to get in touch:

Name

FirstLast

Email*

Enter EmailConfirm Email

Phone

Message*

Email List

Leave this checked to receive updates and news (you can unsubscribe at any time) from the Protect Mount Washington campaign.